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Other providers like Tropo have had this hosted scripting for years. Nice to see Twilio catching up.

itake 9y ago
true, but have you actually used tropo? Their documentation is horrible and you are extremely limited when running the code on their servers. If you need to do anything complicated, you have to have things running through their WebAPI. They have made breaking changes to their API without communicating with their user's.
- sparrish 9y ago
  Yes, I've been using Tropo, Twilio, Plivo, Nexmo, (seems you have to end with 'o' to be in programmable telephony these days) for many years. Nothing too complicated with any of them.
sciurus 9y ago
I'm not sure why this comment was downvoted. I worked for Tropo four years ago. You could write your code in JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, Python, or Groovy; upload it to our servers; and we'd run it on your behalf. It was literally zero infrastructure on your part and one line of code to answer a phone call. Tropo certainly lacked some things compared to Twilio while I was there, but this is undoubtedly an area where Twilio is playing catch up. https://www.tropo.com/docs/scripting/overview https://www.tropo.com/docs/scripting/overview
- kevinburke 9y ago
  Pointing out "Company X already does this" when someone launches something new is a pretty douchey move...
  - stale2002 9y ago
    Ugh, Twilio is the far and above market leader in this space. I don't think they are to bothered by us pointing things out like this.
  - thesimon 9y ago
    Why? It's certainly useful to see what other companies are offering and what the differences between these offerings are. If just mentioning a competitor is bad then maybe the product is bad.
    - kevinburke 9y ago
      Whether it's a company launching a product or a developer showing off something they built in their spare time, it's really depressing to launch something you've been working on for months or years and to get back "well, X already does this." I'd add that "X already does this" comments like this are a routine feature of Twilio HN threads, as long as the company's been alive. https://kev.inburke.com/kevin/six-years-of-hacker-news-comments-about-twilio/ https://kev.inburke.com/kevin/six-years-of-hacker-news-comme...

true, but have you actually used tropo? Their documentation is horrible and you are extremely limited when running the code on their servers. If you need to do anything complicated, you have to have things running through their WebAPI. They have made breaking changes to their API without communicating with their user's.

sparrish 9y ago
Yes, I've been using Tropo, Twilio, Plivo, Nexmo, (seems you have to end with 'o' to be in programmable telephony these days) for many years. Nothing too complicated with any of them.

sciurus 9y ago

I'm not sure why this comment was downvoted. I worked for Tropo four years ago. You could write your code in JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, Python, or Groovy; upload it to our servers; and we'd run it on your behalf. It was literally zero infrastructure on your part and one line of code to answer a phone call. Tropo certainly lacked some things compared to Twilio while I was there, but this is undoubtedly an area where Twilio is playing catch up. https://www.tropo.com/docs/scripting/overview https://www.tropo.com/docs/scripting/overview

kevinburke 9y ago
Pointing out "Company X already does this" when someone launches something new is a pretty douchey move...
- stale2002 9y ago
  Ugh, Twilio is the far and above market leader in this space. I don't think they are to bothered by us pointing things out like this.
- thesimon 9y ago
  Why? It's certainly useful to see what other companies are offering and what the differences between these offerings are. If just mentioning a competitor is bad then maybe the product is bad.
  - kevinburke 9y ago
    Whether it's a company launching a product or a developer showing off something they built in their spare time, it's really depressing to launch something you've been working on for months or years and to get back "well, X already does this." I'd add that "X already does this" comments like this are a routine feature of Twilio HN threads, as long as the company's been alive. https://kev.inburke.com/kevin/six-years-of-hacker-news-comments-about-twilio/ https://kev.inburke.com/kevin/six-years-of-hacker-news-comme...